Councilman Ron Nirenberg Joins Mayoral Race

District 8 Councilman Ron Nirenberg talks with supporters at the launch of his mayoral campaign. December 10 2016

Joey Palacios
/ Texas Public Radio

District 8 City Councilman Ron Nirenberg has officially joined the race for mayor of San Antonio. The 39-year-old councilman announced his candidacy in front of supporters at his campaign headquarters on Broadway Saturday morning.

“I am running for mayor because I want to make San Antonio the city you deserve,” he told the crowd of about 300 people. “We deserve a city government that spends your tax dollars judiciously and efficiently not on boondoggle projects or behind closed doors without the bright light of public scrutiny.”

Nirenberg claims violent crime in San Antonio is skyrocketing and that jobs are leaving to San Antonio for cities like Austin, Dallas, and Houston. He says the city is losing momentum. “And that’s in large part because we are stalling on big decisions like transportation policy, like creating a comprehensive housing policy, and all of these things are political issues that we can very easily address with strong leadership at the top,” he told reporters.

San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor announced her candidacy for re-election in November. In response to Nirenberg’s loss of momentum claims Taylor says the city is not stalling and is still moving forward.

“On ending veteran’s homelessness in San Antonio, to securing our water supply, to ending the stalemate with the police union, to adopting a master plan for the community, and bringing rideshare back. We’ve got a lot of momentum; we’ve got a great trajectory. ”

So far Taylor and Nirenberg are the only candidates to make formal mayoral announcements. Neither candidate identifies with a single political party. The seats for San Antonio Mayor and City Council are non-partisan.

Nirenberg was elected to City Council in 2013. Taylor, a former District 2 councilwoman ascended to the office of Mayor in 2014 and was elected in 2015. The 2017 municipal election is in May.

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